in Bermuda's diverse society, Hamilton Rotarians were told yesterday.

Dr. Argentine Saunders Craig, a professor of human and organisational development at the Fielding Institute, told the service club about the Diversity Skills Development Programme being jointly offered by the NTL Institute and Bermuda College.

NTL stands for the National Training Laboratory of Applied and Behavioural Sciences, based in Alexandria, Virginia.

Dr. Craig is project director for the programme, which is funded by the Ministry of Human Affairs and by sponsors which include the Bank of Bermuda's Centennial Fund.

"In this global village we are living in, there are skills and there are understandings and there are appreciations that we need to acquire in order to get along with each other and to contribute to society,'' she said.

The programme uses the experiences of the participants to address areas of diversity like race/ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, social class, disability, and religion/spirituality.

The programme is unique in its depth, featuring four weeks of intensive work spread over four months.

Dr. Craig has been a Government consultant to 1984 and has advised the governments of the United States, Kuwait, and South Africa on human relations.

She was joined at Rotary by the other five members of the team -- Americans Dr. Lee Butler and Dr. Ed Olson and Bermudians Ms Ernestine DeGraff, Ms Tina Fountain and Mr. Glenn Fubler.

This year's session, which began in June, ends in December. Two sessions are planned for next year.

Mr. Fubler, who last year launched Beyond Barriers, recalled the segregated past in Bermuda and said he was disappointed when he returned to the Island from university and found little progress had been made.

"However, "we as a world community, as a global village, can come together,'' he said. "We can transcend these age-old pasts and move into a bright and hopeful future.''